Too bad Fred Phelps didn't understand that Sodom was condemned not for sodomy or homosexuality but for the sin of inhospitality and hostility to strangers. They had to answer too. Now it's Fred Phelps' turn.

When I speak on coming out and bring in my own experiences, I often leaven the stories with references to Jewish law and tradition. In some respects, not only am I repeatedly coming out to these audiences as trans and gay, but I'm also coming out as Jewish.

Satisfaction with the success and wealth of personal prosperity has led far too many Americans to trust the blessings freedom made possible while forsaking the truth and the living God who is necessary to set us free and keep us free.

Regardless of whether one is a literalist or a relativist, it seems to me that the true abomination lies in centuries of vilifying, criminalizing and persecuting a group of human beings in the name of religion.

What if the authors of this fable intended the mob's behavior to be understood as symptomatic of something far more ominous -- that is, a breach in the social contract that could threaten the fabric of desert culture?